Immediate Aftermath
by waiting-all-night
Summary: This is a one shot that follows on from chapter 2 of 'Our History is Before Us'. It gives some extra detail about certain characters thoughts and feelings and gives an insight into Hermione and Bellatrix's future.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys, so if you have come across this story and you haven't read 'Our History is Before Us' then it probably wont make much sense. If you have read my other fic then this is one of those stand alone chapters I was talking about that will add more detail to the story. In chapter 2 we saw McGonagall get uncharacteristically emotional towards Hermione for a little while so hopefully this will shed a little bit of light on why. Plus its a good excuse to get a bit of Bellatrix into the story early ;)**

 **I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters.**

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"I should leave now if I want this to work Professor." Hermione muttered as she scanned Professor Mcgonagall's office, attempting to look anywhere but at the emotional older woman.

"Quite right." Mcgonagall nodded as she swallowed thickly, all of a sudden looking conflicted. In one swift motion the older witch stepped towards Hermione and swept the girl into a tight embrace, resting her cheek on top of the girl's head. "You are so very dear to me Hermione. You have the strongest heart of anyone that I know, make sure that you follow it…always."

Hermione twisted herself around a little so she could look up at the headmistress. "Professor, is everything ok?" she asked, slightly shocked by the usually measured witch's display of affection.

"I'm fine." Mcgonagall laughed lightly as she released the younger witch from her arms. "It just feels as though, after everything we have been through, we should take any opportunity to tell those closest to us what they mean to us."

The bushy haired witch was touched by the sentiment but couldn't quite shake the feeling of confusion those words brought with them. She was only travelling back in time one hour and Mcgonagall was acting as though she was going back off on her hunt for Horcruxes. "I should leave." She repeated, unsure of what else to say.

Hermione turned her attention back to the gold trinket in her hands and carefully turned the hourglass precisely once. Just before she slipped the delicate chain of the time turner around her neck she looked up at her Professor. "I have always trusted you above everyone else Minerva."

As the older witch watched the girl disappear she couldn't control the sob that slipped from her throat. She pushed her fist to her lips as she fought to regain her composure. "Good Luck Hermione." Mcgonagall whispered to the empty room.

The older woman allowed herself a rare moment to be weak. She spent most of her life denying this side of herself but for right now she wallowed in the vulnerability. She allowed herself to cry for her student who was suffering right now and who had too much adversity still left to face. Hermione was so young and yet she carried a burden far beyond her years. Mcgonagall wished she could take some of the pressure away from the young girl, but she knew there was no chance of that now.

"Minerva, you act as if someone has died." A voice behind the older witch said softly, the hint of a smile present in their voice.

"In a sense they have." Mcgonagall replied as she turned to face the source of the voice. "A version of Hermione has gone from my life forever."

The headmistress's companion stepped out of the darkness that had shrouded her from view until now. The dim candlelight of the office revealed a bushy haired woman with a scattering of freckles across her cheeks. The woman was unmistakably an older Hermione; around thirty years older than the Hermione Granger who had disappeared into the recent past only moments ago. "Am I really such a poor substitute?" Hermione asked affectionately.

"Don't answer that Minerva. I fear this is one of those questions to which there is no correct answer." A third voice called out in warning from the other side of the room. Out of the shadows stepped a woman dressed head to toe in black, her messy black curls framed her pale face as she focused her attention on picking at her blood red nails carelessly.

Minerva Mcgonagall chuckled lightly as she cast a quick glance over her shoulder at Bellatrix Black. "I would not change you for the entire world Hermione, you know that. I just wish I could save you from some of the heart ache I know you are about to face."

Hermione stepped closer to her mentor and reached out to gently wipe the stray tears from Minerva's cheek with the pad of her thumb. "I would not want you to take that heart ache away. Without it I would not have what I do now." The bushy haired witch looked across at Bellatrix who was fiddling with something she shouldn't be on the headmistress's desk. "It was all worth it in the end Minerva."

"That may be so." The older witch said softly. "I just wish that you could have achieved this contentment without all of the sacrifice."

"It is not hard to sacrifice for those that you love." Hermione said simply, smiling to herself as she thought about the people she had in her life now and how much love infiltrated every fibre of her being.

"What do we do now?" Minerva asked, her usual surety gone. "In a little over an hour, eighteen year old Hermione will be gone from this world forever. Many people will have questions, questions I'm not sure how to answer."

"She won't be gone altogether." Hermione pointed out gently. "I will be here instead and I can explain, to all those that need to know, everything that I am able to. That is all we can do."

Minerva sighed and turned her attention to the window, focusing on a nondescript point in the distance. "Do you think those boys will be able to accept that you have spent these years hiding away from the world with all of that knowledge of what was to come?"

"Perhaps not." Hermione conceded. "But as you said, they are boys. When they grow up I trust that they will understand the burden of the responsibility that I had."

"I trust that they will too." The headmistress agreed, a small smile gracing her face.

Hermione appeared to steel herself before beginning to speak. "While we are on the topic of those boys, I was wondering if I could ask a favour of you."

"Anything, Hermione. You know that." Minerva said earnestly.

"I would like for you to pass on a message to Ronald for me." Hermione swallowed thickly as she was over taken by an unexpected case of nerves. "I would like you to tell him that I loved him but I hope that he finds somebody better suited for him. Somebody who can make him truly happy."

Minerva let out a dry laugh. "You want me to break up with Mr Weasley for you?"

"In a sense, yes I suppose I do." The bushy haired witch said in something little over a whisper.

"And you don't think this is something that is better coming from you?" Minerva asked diplomatically.

Any answer Hermione was about to make was cut off by a loud clatter and a whispered curse word coming from the direction of the headmistress's desk. Bellatrix had predictably broken whatever it was she had been playing with last time the other women had checked on her. The black haired witch pulled out her warped wand and flicked it quickly over the object, repairing it to the state it had been before she had got her hands on it.

Bellatrix cleared her throat as she moved away from the older woman's desk, ending the temptation to fidget with things anymore. "I can imagine that would be a rather awkward conversation. Sorry Weasley we're done, but don't pine over me because I'm now married to your mortal enemy."

"I imagine Hermione would be able to handle the situation with more tact than you are capable of." Minerva chuckled as she made her way over to her desk to check on the object Bellatrix had been manhandling.

"You would think so Minerva. But I often found my wife to be much too blunt." Bellatrix replied nonchalantly.

"Only with you." Hermione chipped in with a scowl. "It is not my fault if you have absolutely no reading for subtlety."

"I can read subtlety darling. It's passive aggressiveness that I have the problem with." Bellatrix smirked, raising her eyebrows in a mischievous way at Hermione.

Minerva cleared her throat and put on her stern teachers expression. "I could always go and get Hermione now and ensure that she doesn't have her little horological accident. That way I could save myself almost thirty years of listening to you two bicker."

"It's too late for regrets now Minerva." Bellatrix said dramatically a smirk tugging at one side of her lips. "You're chance to keep the girl here and save us all a few decades of stress has slipped away. Oh, can you imagine the peaceful existence I could have had if Hermione had not tumbled through time and into my life?"

"Yes a fantastically peaceful existence, locked up in a cell in Azkaban. You know your life would be miserable without me. My tumble through time is the best thing that ever happened to you." Hermione countered, smacking Bellatrix playfully on the arm.

"Excuse me." The dark haired witch said, rubbing her arm as if the light smack had caused serious damage. "Aren't you the one that spends so much of their time telling our children not to hit?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, exasperated at her wife's inability to take anything seriously. "I make the rules. I don't have to follow them."

Mcgonagall chuckled lightly drawing the attention of the two younger witches. "If I had told the Hermione that just left this office that this is what her future held I think she would have cursed me on the spot." The older woman watched as Bellatrix moved closer to Hermione, slipping her arm around the brunette's waist and affectionately kissing her shoulder. "But I do wish I could tell her the happiness that is waiting for her if she is brave enough to pursue it."

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 **Well I hope you all enjoyed it.**

 **Let me know what you thought in the reviews and any suggestions you can always PM me to discuss it.**

 **Thanks :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys, I am so so so so soooooo sorry that this has taken so long to get up. Loads of people in the comments have been asking how McGonagall seemed to know that Hermione was going to end up being stuck back in time when she first gave her the time turner. In my head that was all just going to be resolved naturally, but then it just didn't happen that way. Because of this I decided to add this chapter to try to clear it up...but then I kind of got stuck with it. I would write some and hate it. And then I would delete the whole chapter. And then retrieve it from my recycle bin and edit it and end up hating it even more. Anyway I have kept going back to it and am as happy with it as I think I ever will be.**

 **Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your amazing reviews on all of the stories. Thank you for all of the favourites and follows, they really do mean so much. I hope you enjoy this chapter too.**

 **Disclaimer: All characters and settings belong to the amazing JK Rowling.**

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Minerva Mcgonagall sat at her desk and observed Hermione and Bellatrix as they attempted to settle themselves together on the window ledge of her office. It was only just wide enough for two people so it took some negotiating for them to sit comfortably, as Hermione shifted a little she off balanced and looked as though she was about to topple from the ledge. Minerva gasped slightly but the noise died in her throat as Bellatrix shot out a strong arm and easily pulled the other woman firmly back to safety. Both laughed lightly together as Hermione settled into her wife's side and laid her head on the other woman's shoulder, Bellatrix pressed a gentle kiss into her hair contentedly. The pair peered out of the window together onto the grounds and Minerva couldn't help the smile that morphed her features as she observed their ease around one another. A week ago the headmistress could not imagine feeling even the slightest degree of happiness at the thought of Bellatrix Black being anywhere near Hermione; her brilliant, gifted and determined Hermione. A week ago Minerva Mcgonagall had believed, like everyone else; that Bellatrix was dead and gone forever. That was until a certain bushy haired witch had turned up at the gates of the castle unannounced.

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 _-Flashback-_

It had been like any other Sunday at Hogwarts as of recently, most of the people who were helping to prepare the school for September had gone home to have some well-earned rest. Only a few stragglers had remained and as always Minerva Mcgonagall had worked the whole day, now it was 10.30pm and she was finishing her last task before she turned in for the night. She put her signature to the last request for new classroom equipment and slipped the form into the appropriate envelope to be sent off in the morning. The older witch sighed as she relaxed back into her chair and tried to decide whether she had earned herself a small nightcap before bed. She had just about convinced herself that a little fire whiskey would cause no harm when her peace was disturbed by the screech of an alarm alerting her to a presence at the front gate. No good could come from an unexpected visitor arriving at the school's gates at 10.30 on a Sunday evening. Mcgonagall gripped her wand resolutely in her pocket and set off at a brisk march towards the entrance to the school, she knew despite her advancing age that she cut an imposing figure but she did not feel half as brave as knew she looked. She quickly reached the front gates and peered through the decorative ironwork, she scanned the darkness looking for who could have triggered the alarm and almost turned around when no one could be seen. She heard the swishing of fabric before she saw the figure step forward out of the gloom, a travelling cloak pulled tightly around their frame and a hood obscuring their face. Mcgonagall raised her wand to show whomever had paid the castle a visit that she was ready to defend herself should she need to.

"I'm a friend Minerva." The figure spoke. "I have not come to cause you any harm."

"Friends do not usually show up in the dead of night." Mcgonagall straightened her back and tried to remove any trace of the fear that had obviously been evident on her face and strained her eyes to make out any defining features in the mass of clothing. "Nor do they hide their faces."

The figure laughed a breathy chuckle. "Not usually, no. But I think once you have allowed me to explain you will realise that this is not a usual situation."

"I will allow you to explain yourself." The headmistress said curtly but made no move to lower the wards on the castle gate to allow the mysterious character inside the grounds. The figure sighed and took two quick strides forward, standing as close to the gate as the wards would allow. In one swift movement the person pulled back their hood revealing bushy hair and familiar warm hazel eyes, what was not so familiar were the faint lines that framed those eyes. Stood there as sure as Minerva Mcgonagall herself was stood there was Hermione Granger, not as the girl that she knew but as a woman undoubtedly.

"Perhaps it would be sensible to move inside quickly." Hermione suggested. "You never know who might be peering out of their window late at night."

Mcgonagall nodded stiffly. "If anyone were to know it would be you Miss Granger. You have never been far from any trouble."

Hermione smiled warmly at the older witch, her face taking on the look of someone who was reliving a very fond memory. "It has been a very long time since I have been called Miss Granger. It has a lovely feel to it, like greeting an old friend."

"I think you do have some explaining to do." Minerva said as she scrutinised Hermione, lowering the wards to allow her inside. The younger witch pulled the hood of her cloak back in to place and set off towards the castle, knowing the headmistress would not be far behind.

The two women made their way silently to Minerva's office and settled themselves on either side of her desk, both nursing a cup of tea and a piece of shortbread. Even in the midst of confusion the headmistress would not be accused of being a poor host. She observed the person sat opposite her over the rim of her cup as she took a sip of the hot liquid, the witch in front of her looked so familiar and yet so alien all at the same time.

"I would imagine by now a thousand scenarios have run through your mind." Hermione broke the silence.

"I have had a lot of thoughts, yes Miss G…Hermione." Minerva stumbled. "But I deal in pragmatism, I know it would not be a sensible use of my time to get caught up in the what could be's."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at the familiar phrase, a phrase that the Minerva that sat in front of her had never spoken before but somewhere in another reality she had uttered to a scared young girl in a hospital bed. "It must be unsettling to see someone so familiar and yet so unlike themselves. I am much older than the version of myself that you know right now."

"Unsettling would be an understatement." Minerva said with a sigh as she squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm curious to know how you have managed to travel so far back into the past and why you would risk so much to do so."

Hermione countered with a smile. "I haven't travelled into the past… yet."

"Yet?" Minerva asked, a frown creasing her weary brow.

"Well you see Minerva, as odd as it may sound, this is very much my present." Hermione allowed her comment to sink in for a second. "It is just that for a little while longer I have to share my present with the version of myself that you know."

Minerva glared at Hermione as though she was attempting to weigh the woman up. "I am afraid that I do not quite understand what you're driving at."

Hermione smiled again at her mentor and decided to take the direct route. "On the Sunday evening before the school year is about to start an situation will arise in which you will allow me to use your time turner. Things will not go to plan and…"

"And you will end up sent much further into the past than anticipated." The headmistress interrupted.

"Exactly." The bushy haired witch affirmed.

Minerva's posture stiffened. "Well we must put a stop to that now, we cannot risk damaging time."

"No" Hermione almost shrieked. "You have to understand. This must happen."

"Hermione, I cannot just let this happen." The older witch took on the tone of someone explaining something to a child. "I had to take an oath in order to take charge of my time turner and in that oath I promised to preserve time to the best of my ability."

"Minerva, this is almost beyond our control." Hermione began.

"Don't be ridiculous." Minerva chastised. "With knowledge nothing is beyond our control."

Hermione took a deep steadying breath and tried to compose herself. "This has all happened before and it will all happen again. Dumbledore said…"

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Of course Albus would find a way to cause trouble from beyond the grave."

"Dumbledore said that this is called a time loop. The past, present and future is dependent on me being sent back in time. He believed that every time that I go back in time I….fix something else." Hermione fell over her own words as she attempted to convince her mentor that she was right.

"And what exactly are you fixing Miss…Hermione?" Minerva asked impatiently shaking her head.

"Dumbledore believed that at one point in time we may have lost the war." Hermione offered. "But my going back changed that. Or that at one point we may have won the war but lost Harry. He believed that it was almost like…..destiny for me to find my way into the past and change things. That I am not in fact damaging time by travelling to the past but I am simply following the grand plan, what was always meant to be."

Minerva heaved a heavy sigh. "Let us proceed and pretend that I believe Albus' _destiny_ theory. It changes very little because we cannot just take it upon ourselves to alter outcomes that we do not like. That is not how the world works."

"Really Minerva, do you believe that?" Hermione asked with a scathing tone that shocked the older woman. "Because I think if you truly believed it was not our responsibility to change the way things turn out you would not have fought in the war at all. You would have simply allowed Voldermort to take over. Of course we have the responsibility to change things when we are able to."

"Do not be ridiculous Hermione." Minerva snapped. "The two things can hardly be compared. Fighting in a war to stop a fascist is hardly the same as meddling with time."

"Are you honestly telling me that had we lost the war that you would not have welcomed an opportunity to change it?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Minerva rubbed her hands over her eyes and for a second she looked defeated. "Of course I can't honestly answer that question with a no. But we have won the war, Harry is alive, what more could there be to fix?"

Hermione looked at her mentor, a woman that she loved deeply and all of a sudden she knew the way to convince her. She reached into one of the deep pockets of her robe and pulled out what a first glanced appeared to be a fairly battered piece of parchment and slid it across the headmistress' desk towards the older woman. Minerva picked up the item and looked at it curiously, without her permission a smile broke across her face. What she was looking at was a photograph of herself holding a little girl; she looked so much like someone but the headmistress couldn't for the life of her place the likeness in her tiny, delicate features. The toddler's raven hair sat in perfect ringlets around her ears and her deep brown eyes were framed with long black lashes. The child was giggling happily as she reached excitedly for the photographic Minerva's spectacles while the older witch beamed at her, obviously completely enamoured.

"That is my daughter." Hermione said with the smile that only a parent could possess when talking about their child. "She is integral to why I must be allowed to go back, because if I do not she will never be born and I simply cannot permit that. You asked me what more there is to fix, I must save my wife which will in turn save many more lives and obviously more selfishly my own children."

"Hermione." Minerva said desperately, holding one hand up to halt the younger witch while gently laying the photograph down on her desk with the other. "It has been a very long few months and I am going to need you to slow down. You appear at my door late at night looking entirely unlike yourself, talking about going back in time and your… _wife_ and children."

"I appreciate it is a lot." The bushy haired witch conceded. "But I need you to understand…"

"Help me to understand." Minerva interrupted as she pressed two fingers to her temples. "Perhaps you could begin by telling me the name of your wife."

Hermione cleared her throat and suddenly became very interested in the pattern on her robes, she sighed before meeting the headmistress' eyes again. "Bellatrix Black."

Minerva's eyes widened for a brief moment before they flicked back to the photograph of the little girl. "Well that certainly does explain a lot."

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 **Thank you for reading, please feel free to review and/or PM with any comments. Anything you are still or even more confused about now just ask me and I will be happy to talk you through.**


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